<p>I admit that I got WAY more into buying stuff for Son's college dorm than he did. We brought him home last Saturday. The bottle of Extra Strength Febreeze was (unfortunately for everyone) totally unused. I also think he could have gotten by on one set of sheets.</p>
<p>When H was scavanging around the empty rooms, he found lots of unopened containers of Clorox wipes. I guess parents sent them during the H1N1 season, but the students didn't know what they were supposed to do with them.</p>
<p>What did you buy or send that you needn't have?</p>
<p>Second set of sheets (ewww), deck of cards, first aid kit (but I’d send it again). Toaster, loaf of bread and nutella. (He was in an apartment type dorm room and eats toast with nutella all the time at home.) The only thing he ate in that apartment was lemonade and cereal. Sigh.</p>
<p>Funny about the printer - I almost didn’t send one since so many people said their kids didn’t use them. But Son and his three suitemates all used his.</p>
<p>I bought him Apples to Apples for Christmas and it is still in celophane. He said that someone else on the floor had it.</p>
<p>We didn’t bring a printer because S1 never used his. That was the first thing that was missed and had to be sent. S2 used his printer constantly so that one seems to depend on the kid (same major for both). </p>
<p>The item we forgot each time was hangers–for both S1 and S2 ended up going to the store to buy!</p>
<p>I know I’m a student, but I’m already making my list of things not to bring back…</p>
<ol>
<li>Second set of sheets [You may think it’s disgusting, but I wash my sheets in the morning so they’re only off my bed for about 2 hours. The second set just took up room.]</li>
<li>Winter clothes [I’m in AZ, and despite my mom’s worry, it never got cold enough to wear anything more than long sleeves.]</li>
<li>Fan [We have air conditioning.]</li>
<li>Desk lamp</li>
<li>Microwave [Roommate had one, and there was one in the kitchen.]</li>
<li>Books/movies [Unfortunately, I never had enough time to watch or read anything that I couldn’t get at the library.]</li>
<li>Fold-up chair and mini-table [Roommate took up so much room that I had to drag it back home immediately.]</li>
<li>Phone [We didn’t have anywhere to plug it in.]</li>
<li>Printer [It never worked to begin with, unfortunately…]</li>
<li>iPod speakers [24/7 quiet hours, it turns out.]</li>
</ol>
<p>This is so funny as just last night we were unpacking and I told my son it felt like an episode of Hoarders - as he unpacked one item at a time and we decided to keep, trash, or repack for August!</p>
<p>The printer came back in the box - never used. Also - a large spray bottle of Windex - barely used - but I am sending that back to school in the fall with paper towels again - I can’t imagine not having a cleaning product.</p>
<p>Lots of office supplies were unused - sticky notes, binder clips, scotch tape, etc. I was surprised by this.</p>
<p>I went too crazy at Bed, Bath and Beyond - the desk lamp, mirror and bunk bed tray were all in their boxes - never used.</p>
<p>We had a lot of laughs while unpacking - it was a fun way to have a quiet kid share lots of anecdotes.</p>
<p>Oh yes, the entire roll of paper towels was untouched.</p>
<p>What he did use: the package of plastic forks. In fact, about three weeks ago he remarked that the plastic forks were almost gone…with all the trips he took to Target and Wallmart, he couldn’t buy more plastic forks?!</p>
<p>The printer issue was the single most confusing thing for us last year. Some people said to get a printer for the room - some said they never used it. I think the lesson learned is that it really depends on the kid. They do sometimes e-mail papers directly to the professor, but mostly they print at the library or on campus copy center. The advantage of thsi is that you don’t have to worry about paper supply, toner, printer malfunctioning at midnight, etc. As long as your school’s library is open late at night - this would be fine.</p>
<p>Most everything. 2nd set of sheets-never used. Office supplies most unused. Printer not used but I would send it again. First aid kit was not used at school but he did use it once he got home. Somehow in the unpacking the first aid kit ended up next to his bed at home. He used it when he was sick at home and lazy and did not want to walk to the kitchen. Even the laundry soap came home half used. Gross. I doubt he ever cleaned anything. I should have spent the money on more boxers and socks.</p>
<p>Yeah, here I was worried about the relatively high cost of the Purex 3 in 1 laundry sheets…only 20 in a box and I think we brought half of them home. CVS was having a buy one get one free sale…I told Son that if we got two with that offer, we’d have laundry soap taken care of for all of college.</p>
<p>I venture to say that virtually every room on Son’s floor contained at least one dust buster but from the looks of it, no one knew what they were for. The amount of dust of the floors of those rooms seemed seriously unhealthy.</p>
<p>I’m going to be the person who brings stuff that doesn’t get used. My mom and I have ridiculous packing complexes. Alas, at least I am extremely organized. I already have a bin full of stuff and am not even sure what I bought. I made a shopping list but it is kind of long, and I keep thinking of things to put on it. Like hangers.</p>
<p>I not only used my printer daily but I also used a scanner very regularly. I had to print out forms and things for class all the time, and I had a lot of things to turn in for internships, scholarships, and occasionally homework if I’d been sick that I scanned and emailed. Plus anything I needed to sign or get my parents to sign could get scanned back and forth. It took me a half hour to walk down to the school printer, I wouldn’t have wanted to deal with that every time I needed to print something.</p>
<p>I brought a lot of kitcheny kind of stuff my mother was convinced I wouldn’t use, like a rice cooker and a crockpot, but those got a lot of use. All I DIDN’T use was a video game system I brought. I didn’t have any spare time for that, and I’m a girl so it wasn’t quite the social staple it would’ve been for a boy.</p>
<p>My roommate brought a magazine rack that was perpetually in the way and not used. She also never used her laundry drying rack-- but I bought it off her at the end of the year because I did!</p>
<p>ETA: Never used the dust buster. Ended up buying a vacuum a few weeks in and only kept the dust buster in case of dry spills that never happened.</p>
<p>I don’t know the final tally, we pick our son up on Saturday. I was talking to my son about what what bedding he used this year and what won’t need to come back. He definately didn’t use his comforter and he “wasn’t sure” if he had used the cotton blanket or not. How can you not be sure? I guess I need to be proud of him, he did use up the laundry detergent we sent with him. When he was home over spring break he wanted me to get him more. I pointed out that since he was taking the train home it would probably make more sense to get some at the local target. It does make me wonder how much laundry got done since March. </p>
<p>My son’s dorm has printers so we didn’t send him with one. I did give him a ream of paper which he has used. Every school will have a different set up so you should all check with students and parents from you kids school.</p>
<p><<…found lots of unopened containers of Clorox wipes. I guess parents sent them during the H1N1 season, but the students didn’t know what they were supposed to do with them.>></p>